1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a strobe control apparatus of a camera having a strobe incorporated therein, and more precisely it relates to a control apparatus for preventing a malfunction in a camera including a strobe which has a light emitter that is movable between a retracted position and an operative position (i.e., light emitting position).
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras having automatic light modulation type strobes have become available. A strobe incorporated camera which has a strobe control apparatus is also known, in which a light emitter of the strobe is supported by a supporting mechanism, such as a retractable mechanism or a pop-up mechanism so as to move between a retracted position in which the light emitter is retracted in the camera body and an operative position, i.e., a light emitting position in which the light emitter projects outward from the camera body by an electrical driver (e.g., an electrically driven motor).
In such a known strobe control apparatus, the control of the strobe light emission is usually effected in accordance with exposure factors, such as brightness data of an object to be taken and or calculated shutter speed data. Namely, when the object brightness is below a predetermined value upon photographing, the light emitter is brought to the operative position to emit strobe light. After the strobe light is emitted, the light emitter is returned to the retracted position. Conversely, if the object brightness is above a predetermined value, the light emitter is kept in the retracted position, since no strobe light is necessary.
However, in a conventional camera having a strobe control apparatus as mentioned above, there is a possibility that for some reason the light emitter can not move to the operative position. For instance, the light emitter can not move, if the light emitter is held by a photographer's hand, or if a detachable external strobe of a certain shape is attached to the camera so that the detachable external strobe interferes with the light emitter, etc. It goes without saying that no clear picture can be taken if strobe light is emitted from the light emitter which can not move to the operative position.
However, the conventional cameras have not focused on the solution to the problems mentioned above. Therefore, for example, if the light emitter which is not in the operative position emits strobe light, an under-exposure occurs or no uniform brightness distribution can be obtained. Conversely, if the release is prohibited when the light emitter is not moved to the operative position, a photographer may miss an opportune picture.
Furthermore, it is also known to provide a compulsive light emitting switch which is actuated to change the photographing mode to a compulsive light emitting mode in which strobe light can be compulsively emitted regardless of the brightness of an object to be photographed. However, the provision of such an additional compulsive light emitting switch makes a camera more complicated.
Furthermore, there is known a strobe-incorporated AF camera having an auxiliary light emitter which emits a contrast pattern when the object brightness is below a predetermined value, or a camera having a self-timer photographing function. In the known cameras, the auxiliary light emitter is provided in the main strobe light emitter or in the camera body, and a self timer indicator for indicating the self timer operation is provided in the camera body.
However, the location of the self timer indicator in the camera body is restricted, especially if the camera body is housed in a body case. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the photographic lens may interfere with the self timer indicator, so that it may be difficult for a photographer to observe the indicator, depending on the position of an object to be taken, even in a photographic range in which a picture of the object can be taken.
In a strobe-incorporated camera, the strobe light emitter can be observed at any place within an area which can be illuminated with the strobe light when the strobe light is emitted. Accordingly, in theory, it is possible to provide the self timer indicator in the strobe light emitter.
However, in this possibility, the self timer indicator can not be observed from the side of the object, when the strobe light emitter is in the retracted position (i.e., inoperative position) in which it is retracted in the camera body.
Therefore, to make it possible to observe the self timer indicator, the strobe light emitter must be moved to the operative position in which the light emitter projects outward from the camera body even in the self timer mode in which no strobe light is required. This is, however not practicable particularly with a camera in which the light emitter is manually disengaged from a locking member to move it to the operative position, since if a photographer fails to disengage the light emitter, no indication of the self timer indicator can be observed, so that no release timing can be learned.